International Child Teacher Training Institute

The International Child Teacher Training Institute is a teacher training initiative that aims to train teachers without formal Early Childhood Development training so as to improve teaching delivery. It is designed to increase access to high quality, developmentally-appropriate early childhood education for Africa’s poorest children.

Program Results Status

Monitoring and Evaluation Reporting

Location Data

ICRI identified a need to equip communities with skills, resources, and support necessary to provide high quality early childhood care and education, particularly for vulnerable children living in poverty. In order to meet this goal, ICRI Africa started a teacher training program in 2012 to provide quality Early Childhood Development training to teachers and caregivers most of them coming from institutions serving low-income communities and vulnerable children in Kenya. The training program is currently being offered from three ICRI centers: Zawadi Academy in the informal settlement Kayole, Karen Brooks (which is in its initial stages), and in collaboration with Vision Empowerment Training Institute in Nairobi city center. 15 trainees are currently enrolled on the ECD teacher training course across the three sites. The majority of trainees have no formal training in Early Childhood Education and Care but are already teaching (often in ICRI sponsored ECD Centres). This program provides them with the opportunity to receive formal training, which they may otherwise be unable to access. The training costs are subsidized by ICRI and in some instances donor support may be sourced to provide greater subsidization for candidates that need it.

The training is designed to suit teachers' schedules, allowing them to attend classes outside their teaching hours, for example during school holidays. The program advocates for a holistic approach to Early Childhood Education and Care that places emphasis on the learning and development abilities of young children regardless of where they are in the world and what socio-economic challenges they face in their home lives. The course runs for 18 months, and at the end students sit an examination by the Kenya National Examination Council. Upon completion, candidates are accredited with an Early Childhood Development diploma.

ICRI training centers currently host visiting trainers from ICRI offices around the world to enhance and share the ECD best practices, making the program replicable anywhere in Africa.

Beneficiaries

Expansion

The teacher training institute initially started off with a branch in downtown Nairobi for easy access. It then opened a branch in Kayole estate to cater to the teachers in the schools around the Eastlands part of Nairobi. The downtown college later closed to reopen in Karen and will start catering to teachers from schools surrounding the area from 2014.

A plan to open other branches of the training center is dependent on funding support.

Monitoring & Evaluation

Yes

The teachers participating in the training program are assessed by Kenya National Examination Council.

Teachers are also assessed in the classroom - Project Coordinators at ICRI Africa make both planned and impromptu visits to the schools and project sites to evaluate the teaching and learning.

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